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Democracy in Action: Global Entrepreneurship Week

November 15, 2012

Entrepreneurs are crucial to building free and fair democracies that deliver opportunity to all. Their economic success provides jobs, supports a competitive marketplace, and increases business participation in the democratic process through business associations and chambers of commerce. Yet, in many countries, institutional barriers prevent people from becoming entrepreneurs or render existing firms incapable of growing. The effects of this exclusion have been clearly visible in the upheavals of the Arab Spring. To overcome it, supporting entrepreneurship must go beyond helping individuals and instead focus on building entrepreneur-friendly environments with legal structures necessary to establish and develop open market-oriented systems. Read more about CIPE's approach to entrepreneurship.

By Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO of Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council and CIPE Board ChairThe values of entrepreneurship and the values of democracy are deeply interconnected. Both are about individuals having a voice and direction in their destiny – and both require the right kind of environment to flourish. Countries around the world are struggling to create economic opportunities for their citizens and entrepreneurship has grown in its appeal. Entrepreneurs create the enterprises and jobs that expand economies, and they are the font of new innovations that improve productivity and increase standards of living. Read the rest of this article here.

In order to capture successful approaches to building strong, inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems that help democracies deliver for all segments of the population, CIPE will organize a two-day international conference in Chicago, IL on April 9-10, 2013. This conference is meant to be a focal point for a larger effort highlighting entrepreneurship and a platform for institutionalizing and popularizing successful approaches to entrepreneurship-focused reforms, not a one-off event. It will bring together an integrated audience of international development and policy experts, donor organizations and foundations, thought leaders, businesses, and entrepreneurs. Find out more about the conference here.

By John D. SullivanAfter the Arab Spring overturned the Middle East, channels opened for democracy in a once-solid map of autocracy. A region thought to be immune to democracy was transformed within the span of months, buoyed by a young population no longer willing to wait for change. In order for this nascent democracy to fully take root and flourish in the Middle East, popular calls for dignity must be answered with an expansion of opportunities for high-value employment. After the immediate crises abate, how will new governments ensure that they can provide their people with economic opportunity? Read the rest of this article.

By Anna Nadgrodkiewicz The building momentum for “greening” the global economy offers unique opportunities for capitalizing on innovative technologies and business strategies. Countries around the world struggle with issues such as pollution and overreliance on nonrenewable energy sources. Developing countries in particular face the challenge of rising populations and natural resource depletion through excessive mining or unsustainable agricultural practices. As their economies become a larger share of the global total, the pressure to act mounts and the promise of green growth captures the attention of policymakers and businesses alike. Read the rest of this article.

By Andrew Sherman, Senior Partner of Jones Day and CIPE Board Member One of the most exciting trends of the last 20 years has been a growing global commitment to democracy – not only by the United States and other developed countries, but also by new democracies in Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere, which increasingly support democratic reform within their regions. While the world has undeniably become more democratic, defining exactly how to measure “democracy” remains a contentious issue. Read the rest of this article.